Grain and other agricultural products are typically transported in vehicles known as “belly-dump” or “side-dump” trucks, gravity wagons, or in similarly functioning trailers. Such trucks or trailers open from the bottom or from a side chute and empty their contents using gravity. These trucks or trailers were originally designed to empty their contents into a hopper built in a ground pit. However, it often is not feasible for a pit to be excavated in the ground. An alternative hopper is a drive-over hopper having a low profile and located on a ground surface. In some designs, the drive-over hopper is portable, so that it can be towed to the desired grain transfer site and set up to function as a substitute for a dumping pit.
A portable drive-over hopper is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,566 to Stewart et al., which is assigned to Sudenga Industries, Inc., and which is fully incorporated herein by reference. Fold-down ramps 12 are provided adjacent to center grate 32 to allow a truck or trailer to drive over the grain hopper. (Abstract; FIG. 1). The driver must align the outlet of the truck's hopper with the center grate 32 or side grate 36, so that grain is not spilled outside of the conveyor area. Such precise alignment usually requires time for the driver to stop, get out of the cab, look at the positioning of the truck outlet with respect to the grates, get back in the cab, drive forward or backward as required, and repeat to check alignment.
This process is particularly time consuming where the vehicle is a double belly dump truck or trailer having two material outlets. In that case, the first material outlet must be aligned with the grate to empty material from the truck's first outlet. Then the driver must move the truck to align the second material outlet with the grate to empty material from the truck's second outlet.
Accordingly, an apparatus that allows a driver to empty both material outlets at once and that does not require such precise alignment by the driver would save time and effort in unloading such material containing trucks.